Feeding method and apparatus



Oct. 15, 1946.

M. MORGAN FEEDING METHOD AND AYE'PARATUS 2 sheets -Sheet l Filed March21, 1945 INVENTOR. M/ L TON l-T MoRqA/v A TTOFP/VEXS V Oct 15, 1946. M.F. MORGAN 2,409,378

I FEEDING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed March 21, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR. M/LTON E NOPGAN Patented Oct. 15, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFlC 2,409,378 7 FEEDING METHOD AND APPARATUS Milton F. Morgan, ShakerHeights, Ohio Application March 21, 1945, Serial No. 583,977

Claims. 1

The present invention relates generally to the sintering art and moreparticularly to a new method of, and new means for, feeding a sinterablemixture to a sintering machine.

Sinterablematerials comprising ores, concentrates, fiue dust, coal orcoke and the like are commonly mixed and fed onto the pallets of asintering machine by being discharged from a downwardly extending spoutwhich swings back and forth across and some distance above the pallets.The mixture discharged from the spout is deflected toward a verticalwall which tends to separate the larger particles from thefinerparticles and the thus separated material falls some distance onto thepallets. There are certain disadvantages inherent in and resulting fromthis feeding procedure. The segregated, fine particles build up to aconsiderable height on the pallet due partly to the fact that thedistance thru which they fall tends to pack them to ether and partly tothe fact that the angle of repose of the fine particles in this packedcondition is quite steep. The coarser materials do not build up to sucha height above the pallet because they do not pack together to such anextent and because their angle of repose is not so steep. As a result ofthe segregation of the materials according to particle size, the packingof the finer materials and the greater depth of the pile of finematerials, the

charge on the pallet is non-uniform, particularly as regards the flow ofgases therethru and the combustion of combustible materials therein.Where the materials are fine and packed, the spaces therein thru whichgases can pass are smaller than where the materials are coarser or arenot packed to such an extent. As a result, the flow of gases thru thecharge on the pallet is not uniform, the combustion is slower at someplaces than others, the capacity of the machine is not fully utilized,and the sinter is not as uniform in quality or of as high a grade as itcould be.

The present invention avoids theactions above enumerated, as well astheir results, and makes it possible to flow gases thru the charge onthe pallet with substantial uniformity and without localizedretardation, to utilize the machine capacity to a greater extent and toproduce sinter which is substantially uniform in quality and of a highergrade than has heretofore been consistently and. commercially possible.

The present invention is predicated on the idea of remixing and fluffinga sinterable mixture after it leaves the distributing spout and justbefore it reaches the pallet.

The present invention will be better understood by those skilled in theart from the following description and the drawings which accompany andform a part of this specification and in which,

Fig. 1 is a vertical, sectional view taken on line l-i of Fig. 2, thatis, transversely of a sintering machine, and showing, fragmentarily,parts of a sintering machine, pallet and feeding spout; and,

Fig. 2 is a vertical, sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, thatis, longitudinally of the sintering machine.

In Figs. 1 and 2 is shown a pallet i, fragmentarily, and the swingingfeed spout 2 of a conventional sintering machine. The pallets I areprovided with wheels (not shown) which roll along a track beneath spout2 and the spout is pivoted at its upper end where it is in communicationwith a hopper (not shown) and is swung back and forth across pallet i byany suitable means, for example, the rod 3 and an eccentric pin 4carried by a rotating shaft '5. Due to the considerable distance betweenthe lower end of spout 2 and the top of pallet l, and the permissibleangular movement of the spout, a mixture of sinterable material may bespread all the way across the pallet.

Two vertical walls t are supported on the frame of the sintering machinenear opposite ends of the pallets. As is better shown in Fig. 2, each ofthese walls is composed of angle irons. Each wall consistsof two angles'1 attached to and extending lengthwise of the machine frame, andvertical angles 8 attached to angles '1 and connected at their upperends by an angle iron 9. Each wall also includes pairs of horizontalangles It and Il and housing-positioning plates [2 secured therebetween.These plates [2 project a short distance toward each other from theopposite walls is and are provided with holes 3 for a purpose presentlyto appear. The two walls 6 are connected together by angle I4 at theirforward upper ends and constitute a fixed frameA to cooperate with theadjustable housing generally indicated at B.

This housing 13 is positioned in frame A and comprises side walls 2i]and a front end wall 2|, these walls being connected together andreinforced by an angle iron 22 extending along each side wall and acrossthe end wall. The rear vertical edges of side walls 20 are stiffened andreinforced by vertical angles 23 and the lower end of front wall 2| isreinforced and stiffened by angle 24. This housing A extends verticallyfrom just above the top of pallets I to some distance above the lowerend of spout 2 and is consider.- ably wider lengthwise of the machinethan spout 3 2 and is substantially as long transversely of thesintering machine as the pallets I.

An abutment wall 25 is adjustably attached to the inner side of frontwall 2! of the housing, as by means of bolts 25 which extend thruelongated openings in wall 2| and are fitted with wedges 2'5. Byloosening the wedges in bolts 26, abutment wall 25 may be adjusted up ordown, relative to the front wall 2! of housing B. At the lower edge ofwall 25, a reflector 28 is adjustably attached to front wall 2!.Conveniently, bolts 26 and wedges 21, as just described, may be employedas securing means.

angles 23 of the housing. This wall is inclined downwardly towardabutment wall 25 and at its lower end defines with that wall a narrowpassage 32 thru which the sinterable mixture discharged from spout 2 maypass. The top surface of wall 38 is preferably protected by a wear plate33 which may be adjustably attached thereto, as by bolts 25 and wedges2?. At its lower end. wall 30 is provided with bolts which pass thruarcuate slots 3 in side walls of the housing and wing nuts 35 on saidbolts serve to secure the wall 30 in any desired adjusted positionwithin the limits of slots 3'3.

Upper and lower plates 60 and ll extend outwardly at right angles fromthe housing side walls 26 and into the vertical spaces between plates l2on frame A. Bolts may be inserted thru holes [3 of plates l2 justbeneath the lower edges of upper plates A0 to maintain housing B at anydesired elevation. Upper plates 40 have notches 42 in their end edges.Levers may be inserted in these notches 42 and fulcrumed on angles 9. Bymeans of such levers housing B may be lifted or lowered relative toframe A. Plates l0 and ll serve to guide housing B in its verticalmovements and also to maintain the housing in vertical position at alltimes.

Near their lower ends side walls 29 of housing B are deformed outwardlyto provide inner recesses 35 and are provided with openings thru whichshafts 48 and ll project. Shaft 46 is attached to a sleeve 68 which issuspended by flexible member 49 which is capable of permitting 'endwisereciprocating movement of the shaft and sleeve. Shaft 41 is attached tosleeve 53 which is supported by flexible member 5| which, like membera9, is capable of permitting endwise movement of the sleeve. Sleeve 59is attached to and supports a vibrator 52 which may be of anyconventional form capable of causing endwise reciprocating movement ofsleeve 50 and shaft ll. Shafts 46 and i! are attached to disks 55 whichare disposed within the recesses 35. These disks 55 are connectedtogether by a plurality of members 56. These members, as shown, arethin, narrow, plates arranged radially of disks 55 and spacedapproximately 90 degrees apart. Rods or other shapes may obviously beused instead of the illustrated plates. Member 51 is coiled spirallyabout members Etand extends from one disk 55 to the other disk. A wireor a small rod may be used as member 5'5. The convolutions of member 51are spaced a short distance apart, which distance is preferably slightlygreater than the greatest dimension of the largest particles in thesinterable mixture; An iron rod about A in diameter with theconvolutions spaced apart about one inch has been found to besatisfactory for one inch maximum size material.

Members 46 to 51 inclusive constitute what may be termed a mixing andfluffing unit, which is 4 designated generally by C. This unit isdisposed beneath passage 32 between abutment wall and deflecting walland only a short distance, possibly a foot or so, above the top surfaceof pallets i. It will be understood that while the part of the unit Cbeneath passage 32 is shown as being circular in transversecross-section, and while such shape is preferred, it may obviously havedifferent cross-sectional shapes,

The operation of the above described apparatus is substantially asfollows: When a sinterable mix- ..ture is to be discharged from a hopperthru spout A deflector wall 30 is pivotally attached at its upper end,as at 3|, tothe rear.

- from spout 2.

2 onto pallets I, the vibrator 52 is actuated and spout 2 isreciprocated back and forth across pallet I, The gate in the hopper isopened and the sinterable material is discharged downwardly Thismaterial strikes against wear plate 33 on inclined wall 30 and isdeflected thereby toward the opposed side of abutment wall 25 and fallsthru the passage 32. The reflector i6 will direct this falling materialrearwardly and onto the mixing and fluffing unit C. When the sinterablematerials come into contact with this unit, some of those materials willpass be.- tween the turns of member 51 at the top of the unit but willcontact with the turns of that member at the bottom of the unit. Otherparticles Will strike the top turns but miss the bottom turns of member57 and substantially all the material will be agitated and remixedbefore it is delivered onto pallets Furthermore, since air may and doespass freely up thru and around unit C, the combustible materials will befluffed and aerated and there will be little or no tendency for packingof the materials on the pallet. The distance from the bottom of unit 0to the top of the pallets l is so short that substantially no packingcould take place due to the falling of the material thru that distanceand the presence of air in and beneath unit C tends to fluff theparticles and decrease even further the tendency to packing. If any ofthe material has packed together above unit C it will be broken up bythat unit.

In this manner the sinterable materials are remixed, thereby overcomingany segregation which may have occurred previously and are fiufied anddeposited on the pallets in light, fluffy form. Gases may readily anduniformly pass thru such fluffed up material and as a result combustionwill. be substantially uniform and will progress rapidly with increasedoutput from the machine and the production of sinter of improveduniformity and quality.

vHaving thus described my invention so that others skilled in the artwill be able to understand and practice the same, I state that what Idesire to secure by Letters Patent is defined in what is claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. The method'of feeding a sinterable mixture to a sintering machinepallet which comprises the steps of discharging a stream of suchmaterial downwardly toward and back and forth above the pallet,deflecting the falling material angularly toward the side of a verticalabutment, and mixing and flumng the material below the abutment and justabove the pallet.

2. The method of feeding a sinterable mixture to a sintering machinepallet which comprises the steps of discharging a stream of suchmaterial downwardly toward and back and forth above the pallet,deflecting the falling material angularly toward the side of a verticalabutment, passing the material from said abutment thru a narrow,segregation preventing passage, and mixing and flufiing the materialbelow said passage and just above the pallet.

3. The method of feeding a sinterable mixture to a sintering machinepallet which comprises the steps of discharging a, stream of suchmaterial downwardly toward and back and forth above the pallet,deflecting the falling material angularly and passing it thru a narrowpassage, and mixing and fiufiing the material below said passage andjust above the pallet.

4. In a sintering machine including a pallet and a depending spout aboveand swingable across said pallet, the combination of a wall below saidspout and inclined downwardly, a vertical wall spaced apart from thelower end of said inclined wall to define therebetween a narrow passagefor sinterable material, a reflector at the lower edge of said verticalwall, and endwise vibrating, mixing and fluffing means disposed belowsaid passage and above said pallet for mixing and fiuffing sinterablematerials passing thru said passage.

5. In a sintering machine including a pallet and a depending spout aboveand swingable across said pallet, the combination of a wall below saidspout and inclined downwardly, a vertical wall spaced apart from thelower end of said inclined wall to define therebetween a narrow passagefor sinterable material, and endwise vibrating, mixing and flufiingmeans disposed below said passage and above said pallet for mixing andfluffing sinterable materials passing thru said passage.

6. In a sintering machine including a pallet and a depending spout aboveand swingable across said pallet, th combination of a verticallyadjustable housing extending from adjacent the lower end of the spout toadjacent the said pallet, said housing including a wall below said spoutand inclined downwardly, a vertical wall spaced apart from the lower endof said inclined wall to define therebetween a narrow passage forsinterable material, a reflector at the lower edge of said verticalwall, and endwise reciprocable mixing and fluffing means disposed belowsaid passage and reflector and above said pallet.

7. In a sintering machine including a Pallet and a depending spout acuteand swingable across said pallet, the combination of a verticallyadjustable housing extending from adjacent the lower end of the spout toadjacent the said pallet, said housing including a wall below said spoutand inclined downwardly, a vertical wall spaced apart from the lower endof said inclined wall to define therebetween a narrow passage forsinterable material, and endwise reciprocabl mixing and fiufiing meansdisposed below said passage and above said pallet.

8. A feeder for a sintering machin comprising a housing including avertical abutment wall, a reflector at the bottom edge thereof, sidewalls, and an inclined rear Wall extending downwardly toward saidabutment wall and defining therewith a narrow passage for sinterablematerial to pass down thru, and a mixing and fiuffing unit beneath saidreflector and passage, said unit comprising a skeleton framework, amember surrounding and supporting said framework and defining passagestherethru for sinterable material, and means for vibrating said unitendwise.

9. A feeder for a sintering machine comprising a housing including avertical abutment wall, side walls, and an inclined rear wall extendingdownwardly toward said abutment wall and defining therewith a narrowpassage for sinterable material to pass down thru, and a mixing andflufilng unit beneath said passage, said unit comprising a skeletonframework, a member surrounding and supporting said framework anddefining passages therethru for sinterable material, and means forvibrating said unit endwise.

10. A feeder for a sintering machine comprising a housing including avertical abutment wall, side walls, and an inclined rear wall extendingdownwardly toward said abutment wall and defining therewith-a narrowpassage for sinterable material to pass down thru, and a mixing andfiufilng unit beneath said passage, said unit comprising a skeletonframework, a member coiled around said framework with the convolutionsspaced apart by distances slightly greater than the maximum size ofpieces of said material, and means for vibrating said unit endwise.

MILTON F. MORGAN.

